Local counties relieved with state approval of sales tax rates

Monday

Jul 17, 2017 at 5:00 AM

GREG MASONgmason@uticaod.com

For the next three years, state-wide local governments won’t have to worry about their sales tax rates.

The New York State Assembly voted during its June 28 session to extend current sales tax rates for local governments, including Oneida and Herkimer counties. The measure also passed through the state Senate last month.

Sales tax extensions typically are passed every two years, with most existing ones set to expire in November. But when state Assembly remained deadlocked at the close of the latest regular legislative session, some local governments were worried about the sizable budget gaps that would have been created without the extensions.

Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi, D-Utica, said he figured the bills would have been approved sooner or later as he could not envision a scenario where they are not passed. Failure to approve the measures, he said, would have left many local governments scrambling with multi-million dollar budget gaps.

“If I had it my way, I believe that the counties and local governments should be given authority to choose on their own what their sales tax is and should not have to come back to the state every two years requesting extensions,” he said.

State Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, said this year’s approval was delayed as the extensions were linked to a separate, more controversial measure to grant mayoral control over schools in New York City.

With regards to the process requiring governments to return every few years, Griffo said he would like to see that reworked while still restricting governments from exceeding certain sales tax percentages without state approval.

“I think it should be done differently … that allows more discretion and flexibility for these counties,” he said.

Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. has been there before when waiting on state legislators to pass the extensions.

As such, Picente was not too concerned with the time taken by the state Assembly and Senate, saying he knew the two bodies were not going to “bankrupt” counties across the state.

The sales tax measures also impact the cities of Utica and Rome, each of which Picente said are part of the county’s bill. For the county itself, the 2018 budget would have been in a roughly $40 million hole.

“It’s such a drastic amount that you can’t even fathom how to deal with it,” Picente said. “These are all taxes that have been in place for a number of years. The question becomes why do we have to go back every two?”

For Herkimer County, sales tax projects to make up roughly $6.9 million in revenue for next year’s budget, County Administrator Jim Wallace said.

Had the tax rates expired in November without an extension, Wallace said the county could have been on the hook for a projected $600,000 hit to close the current fiscal year in December.

Whereas Picente was not too worried at this stage of the year, Wallace had characterized it as a “huge issue,” saying he had never seen a stalemate go that long.

“If we didn’t get that, I’m making the strong assumption that we wouldn’t be raising taxes,” he said. “We’d have to get rid of every program we have that’s nonmandated.”